Broadway strike talks cut off, shows canceled

New York City  Talks broke off Sunday between striking Broadway stagehands and theater producers, and performances for more than two dozen Broadway shows were canceled through Nov. 25, the lucrative Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

"We are profoundly disappointed to have to tell you that talks broke off tonight and that no further negotiations are scheduled," Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of the League of American Theatres and Producers, said in a statement.

Bruce Cohen, a spokesman for Local 1, the stagehands' union, said that before the talks broke off, the producers informed the union that what the local had "offered was simply not enough."

Pressure has mounted for a solution to the work stoppage, which began Nov. 10, because today starts the Thanksgiving holiday week, one of Broadway's best weeks of the year. Many shows top more than $1 million for the week.

The stagehands - who include scenery and prop handlers, carpenters, electricians, and lighting and sound technicians - have been working without a contract since the end of July. Negotiations have focused on work rules - how many stagehands are required to open a show and keep it running.